Prize Winning Art

The battle of Montaperti was an episode in the perpetual
struggle between Tuscan Guelf and Ghibelline factions that had kept the
region in turmoil since 1215. The Florentine Guelfs had established their
temporary hegemony in the province in the early 1250s, but their Ghibelline
enemies were encouraged by the military victories in the south of Frederick
II's illegitimate son, Manfred, who was crowned King of Sicily in Palermo
in 1258.

A group of Florentine Ghibellines, under the leadership of Farinata
degli Uberti, fled to Siena and encouraged their allies in that city to
resist Florence, and to enlist support from Manfred. A contingent of German
cavalry arrived in Siena in the summer of 1259, bolstering the local Ghibelline
forces and raising their hopes for victory over their Guelf rivals, In
May, 1260, a Florentine army attempted a surprise attack on Siena, but
it was repulsed. A second force, reinforced by Guelf contingents from other
Tuscan towns - Lucca, Pistoia, Prato, Arezzo, Volterra, San Gimignano -
was assembled in August. The size of that Guelf army has been estimated
at 70,000, of which 16,000 were Florentines; not since Roman times had
a military force of that magnitude been seen in central Italy.

The Florentine host established its camp near the castle of Montaperti,
12 kilometers (seven miles) east of Siena. And there, on the morning of
4 September, the Sienese and their Florentine and German allies, numbering
perhaps 25,000, attacked and vanquished the vastly superior Guelf army.
Some 10,000 died in the battle, and 20,000 more were taken prisoner and
led back to Siena, where many died in Prison.